This invention relates to a telephone fault location apparatus system and method and, in particular, to an apparatus, system and method for isolating faults as between the telephone network provided by a telephone company and the subscriber locations served by such network.
As can be appreciated, with the present restructuring of the telecommunications industry, a local telephone company is responsible for repair and maintenance only to the point at which the company's network interfaces with the telephone equipment of its subscribers. Usually, this so-called "network interface" is at a telephone box on the subscriber location and it is at this box that the telephone lines of the company connect to the subscriber equipment.
In order to minimize the cost and labor involved with repair and service calls, local telephone companies have sought ways of determining on which side of the network interface a fault in the telephone transmission has occurred. In this way, the telephone company can assess whether a particular fault is its responsibility, and only in such cases is a repairman dispatched to correct the fault. A significant savings in labor and money is thereby realized since repairmen are no longer dispatched where correction of a fault lies with the subscriber.
Presently developed apparatus, systems and methods for determining fault location are complex and usually involve some type of switching circuitry. Efforts are underway, however, to develop less complicated passive equipment which allows for fault isolation in a simple and inexpensive way.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus, system and method for assessing the responsibility for faults as between a telephone company and its subscribers.
It is a futher object of the present invention to provide an apparatus, system and method for isolating faults as occurring in telephone company lines or in subscriber locations served by such lines.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide an apparatus arrangeable at the network interface for aiding in the isolating of faults as between a telephone line and a subscriber location.